Of Systems, Fulcrums, and War
by Jonathan Mark
Summary: Set roughly one thousand years after the events of the Legacy Era, Jedi and all Force related organizations have been outlawed and the galaxy is divided into many smaller powers instead of one large superpower. All original characters
1. All Writers Are Liars

"Everyone knows all writers are liars," Sarisa said with a giggle. "We are forever propagating fiction and making things up. The best of us are the greatest of liars."

"I dare say I might be a better liar," Abraxis told her. "I'm a politician, it's implied." She chuckled some more. He leaned back in his chair and grinned. "Although, it's not so much that I lie, as I become creative with the truth. Lying outright is not a path to success . . . except for writers of course." He winked at Sarisa. "But I digress." He paused, choosing his words carefully. "I must admit, when my secretary told me that Sarisa Remex wanted to see me, I was flattered." She waved one of her well manicured hands dismissively.

"You don't give yourself enough credit Senator. I didn't expect to get this meeting at all."

"I'm one of your most devout fans," Abraxis said. "Your holonovels are simply compelling. That takes skill."

"So does being creative with the truth, correct?" She said.

"Yes, I suppose we are both capable of . . . creating fiction." Abraxis steepled his hands on  
>his desk. It was genuine wood, cut down from trees on Kashyyyk. All the buffing in the galaxy couldn't take away that rough edge. "So, tell me my dear, why did you want to see me?"<p>

"Research, to be honest. My next novel deals extensively with politics, but I don't feel ready to write it until I've actually spoken so someone with actual experience in the field."

"You want to interview me?" Abraxis grinned. "The answer is yes of course; I'd love to be a consultant." An idea came to him. "We will have to schedule a time . . . what about dinner? I know of this absolutely fabulous place here on Coruscant. It's not far from the Senate building." He glanced out his office's window, towards the mushroom shaped Senate building in the background. Ugly thing.

"Mr. Nevran, are you asking me out on a date?" Sarisa asked.

"Well, you know the old adage, work and pleasure and all that." He looked her over. She had dark hair that stopped in ringlets at her shoulders, framing her beautiful oval face. Pale skin, and eyes so dark they were almost black. "I can't think of a better way to combine the two."

"Flatterer," Sarisa accused.

"Guilty as charged."

"Where do you have in mind to go?" She asked.

"It's a small place near the Senate Building, Zeke's Diner. Not high end, but I swear I have more fun in that place than a high end restaurant like Arcoros'."

"Why Senator, do you slum?" She said it like Abraxis was doing something horribly dirty.

"If the food is good, plus it's far cheaper. Call me odd, but I've never found novelty in something just because it's absurdly expensive."

"You don't make a very good rich person, Senator." He shrugged.

"I wasn't born rich. I like to remember where I came from."

"No, I guess you weren't." She paused and Abraxis could feel her apprehension, literally. "I should save this for the interview, but . . . what is life in the Hutt Empire like?"

"Not nearly as bad as you would think, but you are right, we should save that for the interview."

"Of course." She looked away, pretending to admire Abraxis' spartan office. Her eyes stopped on a small stand mounted into the wall. A long silver cylinder rested between two prongs. "Is that a . . ."

". . . lightsaber," Abraxis finished for her. "I'm a avid collector of rare and controversial art."

"You consider a lightsaber to be artwork?"

"But of course. Lightsabers were hand crafted by the Jedi that wielded them. Each one is unique, a snapshot of the person who made it." Abraxis pointed towards the cylinder. "Notice the carefully carved floral designs into the hilt, the violet colored plating, and the organic influences in overall design. This is a work of art; you can see the love that went into the design and the craftsmanship."

"Have . . . have you ever turned it on?" Sarisa sounded like a little girl that wasn't sure if it was safe to poke into the cookie jar.

"Oh good stars no," Abraxis lied, "besides, I believe the power supply is shot." Actually it worked fine, but Abraxis wasn't going to tell her that.

There was a buzzing noise and the door to Abraxis' office _whooshed_ open. A silver protocol droid walked in.

"Greetings Ms. Remex," the droid nodded towards the writer. It turned towards Abraxis. "Mr. Nevran, I have a message for you from Kato."

"Well, it's about damn time. Old friend of mine," Abraxis said for Sarisa's benefit. "Not suitable for polite company, so we correspond from afar." He turned towards the protocol droid. "Is that all Eze?"

"Yes sir."

"Then you may go." The droid bowed its head slightly, before leaving the room.

"A friend from home?"

"You could say that." Abraxis didn't volunteer anything else as he took the small datachip from the protocol droid. Reaching under his desk he found his datapad and inserted the chip into the receiver slot.

_Abraxis, I've found her and she's moved up in the galaxy. The military genius that defeated the Mandalorian invasion two years ago? She's his mistress, friend, lover, what have you. Point is, she has his ear. I don't need to tell you how dangerous she is in that kind of position. She's got ambitions boy, and now she's got the vehicle she can use to reach them. I don't care if the two of __you were close, she's gone and the woman that's replaced her now has her fingers all over the most powerful warlord in the Mid Rim._

"Bad news?" Sarisa asked.

"Hm?" Abraxis looked up from the datapad. "Oh, just uh, it's complicated."

"Complicated news is always the most interesting."

"And most often the most disturbing," Abraxis said without thinking.

"Disturbing?" Sarisa leaned in closer, her head hovering over the desk. "I don't suppose you could tell me?"

"With all due respect my dear, this is something close to the chest. Old things, from a life I've long walked away from."

"Of course, I'm sorry, forgive my rudeness."

"Oh . . . it's nothing, uh look, I need to go. I've enjoyed this meeting, but how about we continue it tomorrow at . . . noon?"

"Zeke's Place correct? Sarisa asked.

"Yes, do you need directions?"

"Oh don't worry, I can find my way."

"Eze will show you out. It was a pleasure meeting you Ms. Remex."

"Vice versa Mr. Nevran." She gave him a nod and silently left his office. Abraxis watched her go, admiring the gracefulness of her walk. Once she vanished from sight, he sighed and looked down at the datapad in his hand.

"Kato . . . why? Kato, I've long walked away from you and your path." The old man couldn't leave anything alone; he was too driven by his causes. He was an anachronism determined not to let Abraxis go.

Axbraxis disconnected the datachip from his datapad and held it between his thumb and forefinger. Without a word, he crushed it into a fine metallic dust. Carefully, he guided the remains into the trash unit next to his desk.

"I have no time for relics, master," Abraxis whispered.


	2. You Bitch

His schedule was clear. Aside from his brief meeting with Sarisa, Abraxis had most of the day to himself. It was a rare event for a Senator, worth celebrating.

He snagged the lightsaber from the stand and slipped it into his inside coat pocket. A holographic replacement quickly took it's place. Low energy forcefields would even make it solid to the touch.

Abraxis waved goodbye to Eze as he left the office.

"Do you need transportation sir?"

"No, it's already taken care of," Abraxis replied on his way out. He rode the building's tubolift down the speeder lot and and made a beeline for a sleek black speeder. He hopped in and waved his hand in front of the activation switch. With a low rumble, the speeder powered up.

"Home," he told the speeder's rudimentary guidance system.

"_Acknowledged."_The speeder hovered off the platform and gracefully sped off into the Coruscanti sky. Abraxis didn't bother admiring the view; he was too busy thinking.

Kato.

It had been awhile since Abraxis had abandoned his master and the life Kato offered. Was he selfish for that? Maybe, but Abraxis didn't care and why should he? Kato could speak of purpose and responsibility all he wanted and Abraxis still wouldn't care.

He thought about the lightsaber resting inside his longcoat. A work of art, made with his hands. A killing tool, made with his hands. Kato could wax poetical on the symbolic nature of a lightsaber; it didn't change what a lightsaber was, a killing tool. Strangely enough, Abraxis wasn't bothered by that. Some people needed to be killed. You wouldn't say something like that to Kato, that wasn't the correct "way," but Kato was an old fool content with his delusions.

"_Destination reached."_The speeder pulled up next to one of Coruscant's most expensive apartment blocks. Security was excellent, and it was close enough to the Senate building to make trips back and forth from work convenient. Abraxis lived in the penthouse. Kato disapproved of that, but Kato could go eat banthashit.

The droid at the door let Abraxis in with a wave.

"Hello Mr. Nevran," one of his neighbors called over to him while he walked through the lobby. Lady Aria Vox, the scion of a powerful corporate family. Her father was one of the biggest media moguls on Coruscant. She was his youngest child, barely over nineteen.

"Miss Vox, hello to you and good day," Abraxis said. "I trust everything is going well at the office?" Aria worked in her father's HQ as an intern. Like father like daughter, although as the third child, Abraxis doubted she would ever climb high.

"Fabulous, we're actually having a retirement party for one of the long time office workers. He's also been a great friend of mine, showing me how to do things for years now." She pulled out an object from her purse. "I got him this, he loves old collectibles." She was holding a small gray cube covered in intricate designs Abraxis recognized.

A holocron.

"Aria you know . . . s_omething like that should be preserved for the public, you should give it to me because I am a public servant."_Aria's eyes went blank as Abraxis invaded her mind and changed it to his liking.

"You're right," she said slowly. She held out the holocron to Abraxis. "I should give it to you."

"Thank you," Abraxis said as he took the holocron out of her hand. "You make sure to have a good time Aria, and you should get a replacement gift." He placed a credit chip into her still open hand. "That should cover the cost." She shook her head and blinked.

"Of course, I'll see you later Mr. Nevran." She was still looking at him funny as she walked away.

Abraxis pocketed the holocron and took the turbolift to his penthouse. He owned the top three floors, essentially creating his own compound.

The turbolift opened for Abraxis and he stepped inside the tiny entry room. A wave of his hand in front of the security panel unlocked the front doors.

"_Welcome home Abraxis."_

He removed his lightsaber from his coat and tossed the garment onto one the couches in his main living room. He set the holocron on his kitchen counter. A terminal to his home computer was mounted onto the wall. He quickly checked his holomail. Thirty new video messages, and that was below average.

"_Would you like to see the news?"_

"No," Abraxis told his penthouse computer. His penthouse had a second elevator that only went two floors down. One was his indoor pool and bath, and the second was his personal gym. Abraxis took the lift down to the gym.

He stepped out into a large open room with mirrors for walls. Blue gym padding covered the floor. He stripped to the waste and walked to the center of the gym, lightsaber held out in his left hand.

He thumbed the power switch.

There was a _snap hiss _and blue light filled the gym. He started with the basics, parries and counters, slashes and stabs. Bread and butter Shii-Cho.

After several minutes, he shifted into Soresu, keeping his blade close to his body, almost close enough to touch. It was in the motions of Soresu, where Abraxis felt most comfortable. A common critique of Soresu was the claim it merely delayed the inevitable, but Abraxis disagreed. A true master of Soresu wasn't helpless in the offense, he merely waited for the right time to attack, conserving energy until it was time for the kill. Abraxis aspired to that, although, who was he going to fight?

He started to twirl his blade faster and faster; the Force was in his limbs, speeding up his movements beyond what a normal human could achieve. His lightsaber was a shield around his body, deflecting invisible blows.

He shifted to a sudden vertical strike, flowing smoothly from a formerly defensive cut across. His blade came down and there was the a burst of white light and the ear wrenching screech of two lightsaber blades connecting.

"What?" Abraxis stumbled backwards, disengaging with the phantom saber. Not so phantom. A lithe figure hidden inside black robes was standing in front of him, yellow blade humming, casting its light against the mirrors, mingling with Abraxis' blue. Green light flooded the gym.

The phantom didn't give Abraxis a chance to say anything else. She advanced towards him, using the Force to ignore the inconvenient space between them. Her blade was everywhere, but there was no harmony to her strikes. It was an ugly thing to watch. Abraxis kept to his Soresu, applying general defensive techniques. The Force was silent on where the woman was going to strike, so random were her attacks. Abraxis was beginning to recognize the spastic and kinetic strikes of Juyo.

This was quickly turning into a losing battle.

Abraxis used the force to leap backwards, giving ground. His attacker leaped after him, and that was when Abraxis shoved out his palm and hit her full on with a burst of the Force to her chest.

It was like a tank droid had picked her up and thrown her against the wall. The mirror shattered and chunks of the ferecrete backing blasted off onto the wood floor. She bounced off the newly made crater and tumbled to the ground in a heap.

Abraxis heard her groan. An ordinary sapient would be dead or suffering from broken bones and extensive blunt force trauma. The woman weakly crawled to her feet, bruised, but otherwise unharmed.

"How long were you hiding there?" Abraxis demanded.

"You still hit hard as ever," she muttered as she pulled down her hood. She was Chiss, with that striking tell tale blue skin and those eerie red eyes. "Never understood why someone of your strength wastes time with Soresu. Of course, all that raw power and I still could have slipped behind you and ran you through. It's always been the best way to fight wars. Kill your enemy before he sees you."

"Zev," Abraxis said. "Kato just sent me a message about you."

"The old fool tried to kill me on Nar Shadda." She didn't sound angry, she sounded almost amused. "He's got it in his poor little mind that I'm evil and must be purged."

"He's a fanatic, try and forgive him, he made us both what we are." They stared at each other for several moments of silence. The distance between them was thick enough to cut with a knife.

Zev looked over at the crater now marking Abraxis' wall.

"You thought you were actually in danger?"

"A strange person I can't sense through the force and can't see with my eyes, appears out of thin air and attacks me," Abraxis retorted. "What do you think?"

"You should have know it was me."

"I suspected, but it means nothing." He pointed at her with his still active saber. "Why are you here?" She shrugged.

"I wanted to talk to you and Saxon needs me to do work for him on Coruscant anyways."

"The Warlord of Eridu," Abraxis spat.

"Don't act so offended Abraxis. You would like him."

"Would I now?"

"He's brilliant, cunning, ambitious, just like you. Only your looks and methods differ really. He achieves power through the calculated application of violence. You achieve power by convincing others to give it to you."

"Power being the rubric you use to measure everyone," Abraxis said, suddenly tired.

"Don't confuse my admiration for power, with an admiration for power for power's sake. Power is just a thing, a fulcrum on which actions are taken. I admire power, but I also admire a ruthless will to action." She walked towards Abraxis, limping slightly. "Saxon is a man willing to undertake ruthless action with power as his fulcrum."

"And the desired ends?"

"Unknown, even to me." She actually sounded disappointed. "But, I am eager to see where his story will lead."

"Typical you. Always about what intrigues you, you and more you." He didn't stop her as she walked close enough to touch him. Truthfully, now that he was seeing her again for the first time in so long . . .

"Typical you," she said, mocking him, "always acting morally superior, when your really not." She reached out and touched his arm. "Your life as a Senator for a corporate territory has done you well. You've been getting conditioning treatments."

"It would be a lie to say there weren't perks." Another awkward silence settled between the two of them. Abraxis couldn't take it anymore. "Look, trading jabs is fun, but Force it's been so long since I've seen you." He looked down at her legs. "Plus, you're injured."

"Just notice that now did you?" She asked wryly.

* * *

><p>"That should do it," Abraxis said as he finished tightly wrapping her left ankle. "If you were Force blind that would have been shattered." His hands stopped briefly on her ankles. He remembered the feel of this skin. He could feel her smug satisfaction as his hands lingered, aching to slide down to her bare feet. She was sitting on his kitchen counter, legs dangling loosely over the side. Loosely, as good as any word to describe her. She was loose in her attitudes and loose and her actions. Not very Chiss at all.<p>

"Like I said, you do hit hard." Zev could make anything sound dirty. Abraxis reached up and pulled down her pant legs over the wrap. He stood up and found himself eye level with her. Chiss eyes; they could put a chill in your bones.

"So, tell me about the mighty Saxon, Warlord of Eridu."

"You say his name like you want to wretch." Abraxis shrugged.

"You like him, probably intimately, good enough reason as any."

"Well, at least we are being honest."

"I'm a Jedi, we aren't supposed to lie."

"Well," she put a finger to her chin, classic thinking pose. "He's like you. That's why I love him." Something ineligible came out of Abraxis' mouth. "Oh don't be like that. I love him because he is like you and I love you because you are like him."

"That doesn't make any sense, but whatever." Abraxis walked around to the other side of the counter and rummaged through one of the draws. "I know have some caffa around here somewhere."

"I take it the Senate has been spending a lot of time discussing Eridu's request to join the Alliance." Zev hopped off the counter, seemingly unconcerned about her bruised ankle.

"An obvious red herring on his part," Abraxis said while he pulled out an old bag of caffa grounds. "He has no intention of keeping to any agreements made with the Alliance." He sniffed the grounds and made a face. Sighing, he tossed them aside.

"Eridu has always considered itself Coruscant lite; it's not a stretch." She followed him around the counter and leaned up against it. She started telekineticaly juggling some plates he had left out.

"Only if your stupid, and sadly, many senators are."

"You worry too much, but if it makes you feel better, I don't think the Alliance is high on his list."

"Oh?"

"He's got the Hutts on his mind."

"Great," Abraxis grunted, "another war in the Outer Rim. Wasn't it just two years ago your boyfriend was busy crushing the Mandalorians beneath his boot heel?"

"They started that war, idiot warmongering savages. What kind of fool fights war for the sake of war?"

"A Mandalorian?" Abraxis provided helpfully. Zev rolled her eyes and set his plates down, thank the Force. Those were handmade and imported all the way from Taris.

"So . . . you didn't just come to Coruscant to see me. Why does Saxon have you here?" Zev scoffed at him.

"You expect me to tell you that?" Abraxis opened his mouth to reply, but a sudden ringing noise started broadcasting throughout his penthouse.

"Hmm, someone is calling me through my private line, hold on." He left Zev in the kitchen as he took up the stairs two at a time to his bedroom loft. His primary computer terminal was in here.

_"You have one new message."_

"Crap." Abraxis pulled up his communications app on the screen. Very few people had this line. It was bound to be important. He located the new message and opened it. A single line of text faced him.

_I know what you are._

"What?" Abraxis blinked and checked the sender. Unknown. "Impossible," he whispered. "I know what you are?" Blackmail? Did the sender know Abraxis was a Jedi? He fell into his office chair and blankly looked at the screen. Whoever sent that had a reason for it, right? "Banthashit." Talk about power and fulcrums, if this anonymous sender knew what Abraxis really was? He didn't want to think about it.

He suddenly remembered that Zev, the ethically challenged Jedi and his ex-girlfriend, was chilling in his kitchen.

"Still can't feel you in the Force, Zev," he muttered. Zev was a savant when it came to hiding herself in the Force and to the senses.

He left his bedroom and started down the stairs. He was willing to bet Zev knew something about this, probably why she showed up here in the first place.

"You know Zev, I don't know who your friends are, but this isn't . . . alright?" Abraxis looked around, but didn't see any sign of Zev. He also didn't see the holocron he had mind tricked out of Aria's possession. "Why you bitch, you schutta bitch." His Dark Jedi ex-girlfriend had robbed him blind.


	3. Substructure

Zevance In'rokini was invisible among the crowds. It was easy to to disappear in crowds, even without the Force. With it? Zevance was a ghost.

She could feel Abraxis' anger and fear. Something had frightened him, but Zevance had been too busy stealing his holocron to find out what.

There was a pang in her chest, a damn guilt stab. She shook her head and did her best to ignore it. Abraxis' didn't deserve her guilt; he had stolen the holocron from his fellow tenet and Zevance had in turn, stolen it from him. She would give it back once she was done with it, owed him that much at least.

She put thoughts of Abraxis to somewhere else in her mind. She wasn't even supposed to visit him, but she wasn't Saxon's slave. The mighty warlord would have to deal with it. He would have to deal with her been late as well.

Her destination wasn't far, it was one of the most expensive hostels on Coruscant and thus in the same district as Abraxis' penthouse. She hailed an autocab and told the droid where she wanted to go.

_"Acknowledged."_

The autocab sped off, zipping through the urban forest that was Coruscant's sky. Zevance pulled out her pocket communicator and thumbed the call button. There was a brief pause and then the tiny protected image of her employer appeared after a few flashes of static.

"_You're late,"_ he said. "_You visited your senator friend, despite my instructions not to."_

"You don't own me, Kal Saxon," Zevance told him. "I wanted to see Abraxis; we grew up together, we were our firsts; he's important to me." There was a pause; Zevance could almost feel Saxon choosing his words carefully.

"Very well," he said finally. "You didn't tell him I was here did you?"

"Of course not."

"Good, I won't be 'officially' arriving until the day after tomorrow."

"For the vote right?"

"Not over the waves. We will talk when you get here." And then the connection was cut; the image of him fizzled out.

The day after tomorrow there was going to be an emergency vote called by Saxon's allies in the Core Alliance Senate. According to the Corellian Treaty, preliminary considerations for joining the Alliance required a two thirds vote. Saxon was confident the vote would go through. Zevance wondered which way Abraxis would vote. He was the Senator for the Mandrake Corporation. The Mandrake Corporation was so large it controlled entire systems, amounting to what was essentially a private state. Not exactly an exemplary role for a Jedi.

It didn't take long for the autocab to reach the hostel. The nondiscript speeder pulled up next to the building's speeder lot. Zevance hopped out and made everyone around her forget she existed. She could nullify any kind of organic security presence. It was the electronic security that could spot her.

The hostel came equipped with wide range EM cameras, which meant Zevance had to make herself invisible across a wide range of EM spectrums. Not easy.

The cameras worked in a rather simple fashion. They pinged you with a wide range of photon wavelengths and then those photons were reflected back into the camera lenses. Manipulating something as absurdly small as a photon took the kind of precision only the mythical masters of old could have accomplished. Zevance wasn't that skilled, but there were other options.

Drawing on the Force, she surrounded herself with an invisible barrier. The photons would slide past the barrier the same way neutron stars forced light to bend around them. It wasn't perfect, look close enough and you would be able to see the distortions where the light was being redshifted, but it was better than nothing. The cameras were going to notice the distortions—any quality security system would—but the near total invisibility would give Zevance a greater margin for error in avoiding the camera's field of view. It would also make her invisible to the basic mark one eyeball.

Sound was the easiest to deal with. She simply used the Force to create a thin bubble of vacuum around her body. Any sound she made wouldn't be able to penetrate the barrier. No mass to vibrate, no sound.

Using the Force to increase her speed, she ghosted through the hostel entrance lobby and deftly avoided the cameras fields of vision. Once inside a turbolift, she switched her stealth tactics.

There were no cameras in here, merely people. Two humans, one male, one female. Reaching into their minds and preventing them from becoming aware of the Chiss standing next to them, was easy.

She even convinced them, that for reasons they would later forget, they needed to go to the second to top floor.

* * *

><p>The automatic doors to Saxon's room slid open for Zevance and she stepped inside. Immediately, she felt the Force vanish from her control. She scowled, but continued inside anyways. Saxon never went anywhere without his pet ysalamir.<p>

He was standing next to the living room's largest window, looking out at Coruscant's endless cityscape.

Warlord, military genius, and her lover. He was one of those men that owned whatever room he he walked into. He was tall, powerfully built, stunningly handsome. Even the way he walked spoke of command. Each step was a conquest, a claimant to territory. All the attributes Zevance could want in a male existed in Saxon. Even the Force seemed to have something to say about him. He pulsed with the Force, him, a man practically blind to it.

"Every time I look at Coruscant's skyline, I want to say something profound, the kind of thing they make epigraphs out of," he said as Zevance neared him. "But, I have nothing profound to say about Coruscant. It's a giant mess of sapients and droids; a planet that's very existence would kill all life on its surface, were it not for the massive machines that radiate the waste heat of a planet wide city into space, and provide oxidation for a world devoid of the necessary plantlife." He turned around as Zevance neared him.

"You don't like it?" She asked.

"No; there is nothing here to admire."

"Would you use power as a fulcrum to change it?"

"No, the substructure of Coruscant has become so that the only superstructure it can support is the one which we now see." He pointed lazily towards the skyline. "The superstructure informs the substructure, but the substructure does likewise and the ratio is not an equal one to one. The substructure is the slate on which the superstructure must rise and only when the superstructure gains the power to directly change the substructure can the superstructure undergo a paradigm shift." He started pacing. "Of course, once you change the paradigm on which the superstructure operates, then how it informs the substructure, will change and the cycle will begin anew." He was doing it, where he hit on a subject he wanted to talk about and started to ramble.

"Don't you want to know what I spoke to Abraxis about?" Zevance asked.

"He doesn't know about the vote, so no, not really, as long as you told him nothing sensitive." Saxon stopped pacing and stood in the middle of the window. "The Unity Democrats were already in favor of this vote, so getting the party oligarch to move the motion forward on such a short notice was easier than I expected, which is foolish of me really; I should have known better."

"What's the Oligarch's name?"

"Keta Murr, the Senator from Corellia, which is something of an irony, considering Corellia's independent streak. I suppose the dark times after the Sith-Imperial War quelled any such notions. Systems don't exist in a vacuum . . . pun intended." Saxon started stroking his thin goatee. "It's been a close thing. Murr doesn't have a majority in the Senate; she's been having to work with her coalition partners in the Militarists." He grinned. "And naturally, the Militarists don't like me. I'm too much like them and I'm not on their side!"

"How did Murr get them to support you then?"

"By framing in such a way that it appears less about supporting me, but antagonizing the Federalists," Saxon replied. "The Unity Democrats and the Militarists hate the Federalists, but they are the larger than both of them individually." He cocked his head to the side, like listening to a phantom. "That reminds me, your friend is a Federalist isn't he?"

"He's an represnative of the Mandrake Corporation," Zevance said with a shrug.

"Yes, one of the biggest names amongst the Federalists, yes that might work." Saxon swiveled around on his feet. "How influential is Abraxis in the Federalist hierarchy?"

"I know he's important; he can sway votes with a single call. What? Do you want to try and use him as another fulcrum?" Zevance couldn't put her finger on it, but she didn't like the idea of Saxon using Abraxis as a lever.

"No, not yet anyways, but who knows what the future will hold? A time may come when I need the help of the Federalists."

"I doubt it."

"Ah, but you aren't thinking far enough ahead." Suddenly he moved towards her, towering above her head. "Opportunities like these," he slipped an arm around her waste. "Have to be cultivated early." He nudged her towards his bedroom. "And often."

"I'll . . . see what I can do," Zevance said coyly as she went with Saxon into the bedroom.


End file.
